News

“Congratulations to our graduating seniors! On May 22, 2017 our first cohort of Environmental Studies majors graduated from Boston College. To find out more about Boston College’s B.A. in Environmental Studies and its six concentrations visit our major information page.

The Environmental Studies Program offers a variety of research opportunities for our students under the direction and mentorship of our faculty. Professor Andrew Jorgenson and ENVS major Amanda Sie recently co-authored an article that has been accepted by Environmental Research Letters. Read a copy of the accepted manuscript.

Alex Krowiak, ENVS minor from the BC class of 2015, recently published a photo essay documenting how California’s historic drought has affected Catalina Island, a small island and tourist destination about 22 miles off the coast of Southern California, in News Deeply. Alex has been teaching marine biology at the Catalina Island Marine Institute. His photo essay can be found here.

Now in its fifth year, the Boston College Energy and Environment Alumni Network (BCEEAN) has quickly emerged as one of the largest alumni affinity groups, its growth rooted in the number of BC graduates working in a range of professions tied to the energy and environment sectors.

The Environmental Studies Program is proud to offer a new interdisciplinary degree in environmental studies. The first cohort of 15 majors, selected from a strong applicant pool of members of the class of 2017, began their work in the fall of 2014. More information about the major can be found on the BC Chronicle, The Gavel, and BC Magazine websites.

Course Spotlight

SOCY 5560: Environmental Sociology

This course reviews some of the major literatures and lines of research in environmental sociology. The literature emphasized here (1) pioneered the formation of environmental sociology, (2) directed its various trajectories, and (3) represents recent developments. Classical readings include the works of Karl Marx, Kautsky, and Adam Smith. Early environmental sociology works include those of Catton, Dunlap, Freudenberg, Buttel, Schnaiberg, Merchant, and others. Contemporary trajectories explored include ecological modernization, treadmill of production, ecology of the world-system, world polity theory, eco-Marxism, eco-feminism, actor-network theory, environmental justice, critical studies of global environmental governance, and political ecology.